


Propriety

by EvaBelmort



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-28
Updated: 2010-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-10 20:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/103997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvaBelmort/pseuds/EvaBelmort
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patty's still getting used to Dante's friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Propriety

**Author's Note:**

> Song/Theme: Hem - "Horsey"  
> Originally posted on [oddible](http://oddible.dreamwidth.org/) for July 2010.

  
Patty found that spending time with Dante (not Mister Dante, he'd said that was silly, and she'd been confused anyway since he only had the one name, though that was the least of his oddities) was much more mundane than she'd been expecting.

She'd had her work cut out cleaning up the place, of course, and he never remembered to do things like serve tea to clients, but that might be because he only ate intermittently himself. (Another mystery, that, the way a man who never ate decent food but drank liquor like water and spent most of his time napping was so strong.)

Dante might mutter about her nagging, and some days you couldn't get him to do _anything_ save sleep, but he'd never raised a hand to her, barely raised his voice, and hadn't even come close to turning her out no matter what she did. She'd heard enough stories to be sure of how rare that was, especially for a man in such a violent profession. Still, she'd known that Dante was a gun(and sword, though most folks never saw that part)-for-hire and... somewhat uncouth... when she'd decided she wanted to be his assistant, but he was a good man underneath, honourable even, and he'd no time for ill-natured folk.

And she'd no problem with Mister Morisson; he was respectable enough, always brought work, and he was good about fixing things when Dante broke them. If they were both in a good mood and the job not too messy, she'd come along for a ride, and that was always good fun. She'd sit up in the driver's seat with Mister Morisson, and he'd chat with her and tell her interesting bits of news and call her Miss Lowell, polite as you please, while Dante napped in the coach behind them.

Most of the clients were no trouble, either; Dante had a reputation, but it wasn't the kind that led people to hire him for _small_ jobs. Gangs of vicious bandits, serial murderers, the kind of horrors that people only talked of in whispers, that was more the sort of thing he got called in for, when people were desperate and didn't mind if their town got a little shot up while he was sorting out the trouble. And, well, desperate people were awful polite to a man who might be their last hope.

No, the most troubling thing about Dante was his two lady friends. Miss Trish and Miss Lady, neither of them with any more last name than Dante himself, and what kind of name was 'Lady' anyway? Especially when she looked no such thing. Miss Lady was a rough sort, scarred up all over, who could curse like a sailor and always had more weapons hidden under her (shockingly short! You could sometimes catch a glimpse of her _knees_!) skirt than anybody in their right mind would ever need.

Miss Trish was almost worse, the way she wore men's clothes (and couldn't seem to button up the shirts, either!), but she at least was polite. Really, if Sister Agathe from the orphanage had seen the kind of company Patty kept nowadays, the poor dear would likely have fainted on the spot.

Still, there was something about them... The thing Patty always remembered most about Miss Lady, even more than the way she dressed or the gorgeous blood-bay horse she rode, was her character. Miss Lady was blunt and straightforward and fierce. She'd the devil's own luck at cards and no shame about tricking Dante into helping her out, and he never seemed to mind too much either, and he treated her like an equal, a partner, not someone to be protected at all.

He treated Miss Trish the same, and they actually _had_ been partners once (working partners, that was) before Miss Trish had decided the travelling life suited her better. They might both of them be oddities but there was a freedom in it, Miss Trish's sly laugh and Miss Lady's wide grin under mismatched eyes as they paid no heed to the stares and whispers whenever either of them was in town.

Patty had been surprised to find out that they didn't know each other at first, since they were both such good friends of Dante's, but he'd told her that he met Miss Lady when he was much younger, and they hadn't been in touch nearly so often before Miss Trish went a-wandering, so the two had always managed to miss each other before. And, well, Miss Trish only dropped in occasionally anyway, whereas Miss Lady was in every other month, so it wasn't all that surprising really. There was just something about Dante, like he was much older than his face, that made Patty feel as though nothing in his life ever changed; it was always surprising to her that she was around when something did.

Well, not that she'd been _around_, exactly, because they'd met on a job, a dangerous one, something about a travelling preacher and a town that wasn't quite a ghost yet but looking to get that way. Patty definitely remembered Miss Lady landing on Dante's doorstep like a cat with its fur ruffled wrong, all fired up about a tall blonde woman with two pistols who fought like a demon, and asking Dante for information. Dante had just made noncommittal noises, as if Miss Trish hadn't been standing in his office that very morning matching that description to a 't', until Miss Lady had shaken her head and stalked out, saying she was going to find this demoness and kill her.

The minute the door swung closed behind her, Patty braced her hands on her hips and glared at Dante, demanding to know what he was up to. Dante just shrugged, smiling, and told her it was Trish's game, and the pawns should do as they were bid.

He'd gone out that evening, though, and they'd all three come back together, looking rather the worse for wear. Miss Lady was still irritable, too, and she and Miss Trish kept staring at one another like they hadn't quite made up their minds whether to get along or not, but they mellowed out after they'd had a few drinks and Miss Lady'd beat everybody at poker. They were still there when Patty left for the night, though Dante bestirred himself to walk her back to the orphanage the way he always did if it was late.

Some of the younger sisters giggled behind their hands when he came by, but they often did that; a surprising number of them asked after him, too, which Patty supposed was because he was a... what did Miss Trish call him?

A handsome devil, that was it, and laughing at him while she said it. She'd also said it was a crying shame, him being alone so often, but while he did seem _melancholy_ sometimes, Patty didn't really think that he was looking for a young lady to court. It just seemed to be part of him, a faint sadness and a sort of dream-like quality, like a fairy prince from a story, as if she might come to the office one day to find the door open, nothing in there but dead leaves, and him gone back to some strange magical kingdom. She had dreams about that sometimes.

He was still there in the morning, though, and Miss Trish had stopped in to say her goodbyes on her way out of town. Oddly, rather than leaving right away she left her bag at the door and perched on Dante's desk, talking about nothing in particular as if she was waiting for something.

She must have been, too, because Miss Lady showed up to tell Dante he still owed her money, like she always did, but when she left she offered to take Miss Trish with her. It was quite the lovely picture they made, Miss Trish's long hair blowing out like a banner where she sat behind Miss Lady on that big dark horse.

Dante watched them go, smiling faintly, and Patty stared at him, because that was his good smile, the one he reserved for when jobs went really well and they saved people.

"I thought it was Miss Trish's plan," she said, not quite accusingly.

Dante patted her on the head, his smile getting a little wider. "It was. But I figured those two would get along like a house on fire. I feel sorry for anything that gets in their way."

"So that's alright, then?" Patty asked softly.

"It changes some things," he answered, "but nothing important. And with any luck, Lady'll be distracted and forget how much I owe her before we see her again."

Patty found herself laughing at the very idea, feeling warm with relief and utterly contented, because Miss Lady was the closest thing she had to an older sister, and Miss Trish was so like Dante in some ways, but warmer, and Patty had been really looking forward to getting to know her. Dante knew them both better than she did, after all, and she'd trust him with this, that she wasn't going to lose the two people besides Dante that she admired most in the world.

Some days Patty had a nagging suspicion that she would never grow up into a proper young lady, but this was more family than she'd ever expected to have in her life, and in comparison being proper didn't seem to matter at all.


End file.
